Fall of Enugu

In the late 1960s, ethnic tensions rose dramatically in Nigeria. Many Igbo people of eastern Nigeria feared domination and discrimination from the country's other ethnic groups. In September 1966 soldiers of the Nigerian Armed Forces massacred easterners residing in the northern portion of the country, triggering the flight of thousands more to the eastern city of Enugu. On 30 May 1967, Nigeria's Eastern Region declared that it was seceding from the country to become the independent state of Biafra. Enugu was made Biafra's capital, and the state was led by the former Eastern Region Military Governor, Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu.^[1] The Nigerian government planned to suppress the secession in a four-phase operation that would last one month. Their first major goal was to secure Enugu and Nsukka.^[2] On 6 July Nigerian federal troops launched their offensive to recapture Biafra, initiating the Nigerian Civil War. Federal officials initially declared that their forces would seize Enugu "in 48 hours", but the conflict soon developed into a stalemate, with heavy fighting taking place near Nsukka.^[1] Ammunition shortages also hampered the Nigerian offensive.^[3]

At the start of the war, Enugu was home to almost 140,000 residents,^[4] mostly Christian Igbos. Once conflict broke out, they started leaving the city in search of refuge deeper in Biafran territory.^[5] Foreign nationals were advised by their own governments to leave Biafra, and by late July only about 50—most of them journalists, arms dealers, diplomats, and traders—remained in Enugu.^[1] In an attempt to distract federal attention away from Enugu, Ojukwu ordered an invasion of Nigeria's Mid-Western Region. Biafran troops began their offensive in August and made steady progress, capturing Benin City and almost coming within 100 miles of Lagos before being halted at Ore.^[6] Federal forces were reinforced by redeploying troops from the Nsukka front, delaying progress on the attempt to capture Enugu.^[7] The Nigerian 2nd Infantry Division led a counteroffensive in the Mid-Western Region and by late September had recaptured Benin City.^[8] Meanwhile, the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Army, General Yakubu Gowon, ordered Major Theophilus Danjuma to assume the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel and relieve Sule Apollo of command of the detachment of 1st Division troops at the Nsukka front. Danjuma spent the following weeks securing his supply and communication lines.^[9]

The Biafran 53 Brigade under Colonel Alexander Madiebo, the newly appointed head of the Biafran Army, was tasked with defending Enugu, but the unit had been exhausted by previous engagements and was unable to call upon reinforcements. In an attempt to bolster the city's defence, Ojukwu ordered all able-bodied men mobilised. Approximately 10,000 arrived in the capital. Aside from a handful of dane guns in their possession, the men were unarmed and the Biafran administration struggled to feed them. According to Madiebo, Ojukwu intended to equip them with machetes and move them through Eke from where they would swarm federal troops at Abor. Madiebo doubted the plan's feasibility.^[10]

In contrast to the motley defenders of Biafra's capital, the troops tasked with attacking Enugu were from the 1st Division, which was the most experienced force in the Nigerian Army. It included large numbers of World War II veterans.^[11] Overall, Danjuma was given charge of six full battalions and 2,000 troops as reinforcements, which he organised into one additional battalion with the remaining 1,000 troops held in reserve.^[12] Feeling that the divisional headquarters at Makurdi was too distant and out of touch with the situation, Danjuma ignored orders dispatched from there and instead gathered his officers at his brigade headquarters to design an offensive. He devised a plan whereby Nigerian forces would advance along a broad front, thus making it more difficult for the Biafrans to block them along major roads as had happened up to that point.^[13] He then went to Makurdi to inform divisional commander General Mohammed Shuwa of the plan.^[14]

Nigerian forces in the Nsukka area began advancing in earnest towards Enugu on 12 September.^[15][12] Armed mostly with small arms and some anti-tank weapons, the troops kept in close contact with each other so as to keep the line of advance even.^[14] Biafran forces counter-attacked,^[15] and Nigerian troops on the main road were subjected to significant amounts of fire, but the rebels guarding the secondary roads were surprised and quickly retreated.^[14] Biafran troops dug craters and chopped down trees to block roads as they pulled back, slowing the offensive.^[16] The federal forces progressed from Opi Junction to Milliken Hill within a few weeks.^[17] Federal artillery in Ukana began bombarding Enugu on 26 September.^[18][16] The Nigerian Air Force also raided the city, temporarily forcing Biafran radio offline.^[19] Having obtained armoured cars by the time he reached Milliken Hill, Danjuma had his forces link up before moving ahead on a narrower front to concentrate their strength.^[20] News of the 2nd Division's success at Benin City and Ojukwu's decision to execute some of his top officers boosted federal morale.^[16]

Just after midnight on 1 October, Ojukwu delivered a speech over radio pledging not to abandon Enugu.^[21] On 3 October, the Biafrans began evacuating their capital.^[22] Danjuma employed a plan of attack for the city he had originally devised as a hypothetical scenario during a promotion examination some years prior.^[23] On 4 October, federal air and ground forces assaulted the city.^[19] Ojukwu was asleep in the Biafran State House when the federal troops attacked, and awoke to the sound of gunfire and mortar explosions to find his guards and aides gone and the building surrounded by federal forces. Disguising himself as a servant, he was able to walk past the cordon without incident and escape.^[24] Minimal fighting took place within Enugu^[23] and the Nigerian 1st Division successfully occupied the city.^[25]